EM55 – GOROKA, MADANG, SEPIK PACKAGE FOR INDEPENDENT TRAVELLERS AND SMALL GROUPS 6 nights ex-Port Moresby (1 night Goroka, 3 nights Madang, 2 nights Sepik River) This itinerary features three of PNG’s easily accessible destinations with contrasting scenery, culture and natural and historical attractions: Goroka - scenic highlands terrain and exotic tribal culture. Madang - pretty coastal scenery, peaceful seaside villages and tropical rainforest Sepik River – dugout canoes, carved artefacts, riverside lifestyle The package includes local guides to accompany you daily for all activities. This package tour may commence any day of the week. Click here to download a more detailed itinerary for EM55 with prices, list of tour inclusions and trip notes, click here (Adobe Acrobat PDF file
Arriving at Jacksons International Air port Typical Goroka village homestay Highlands Highway near Daulo Pass Asaro Mudmen performing	GENERIC ITINERARY DAY 1: PORT MORESBY / GOROKA 07:00 Ecotourism Melanesia staff will assist you at the domestic terminal to check in for your flight to Goroka. 09:15 Air Niugini flight PX960 departs Port Moresby for Goroka. 10:25 You will be met on arrival in Goroka by our local guide – look for somebody holding a sign with your name. The guide will transfer to your hotel for check-in. The hotel is only a two minute drive from the airport. 11:30 Make an early start to your half day tour of Goroka and district. A packed lunch is provided to eat en route. The half day tour begins with a familiarisation drive around Goroka and surrounds, then you’ll stop and visit the JK McCarthy Museum of highlands culture, and the Raun Raun drama theatre where you will be treated to a short performance of a social awareness skit on HIV/AIDS or domestic violence. Venturing further out of town you’ll pay a visit to a smallholder coffee block and learn how coffee underpins the rural economy in the highlands. Continuing northwest along the Highlands Highway and up a series of steep hairpin bends brings you to the Daulo Pass, a high-altitude biodiversity hotspot. Visible from your vehicle through the swirling mists is a magnificent variety of flowering trees and non-flowering ferns and palms, bubbling brooks and tiny waterfalls. Children sell fresh flower garlands on the roadside. A little further is the rugged high-montane terrain of the Chimbu Province featuring amazing vegetable gardens growing on impossibly steep ridges. Descending by the same route to the Asaro Valley you will make a stop at Asaro village, home of the famed Asaro mudmen. These people have a tradition of crafting fierce looking clay helmets worn during tribal fights in the olden days to frighten the enemy. The helmets are also worn for traditional dancing and drama performances demonstrating how their ancestors stalked enemy tribes. You’ll be shown how the clay helmets are made and used, and you’ll be treated to some dance and drama. 18:00 Return to hotel Overnight Bird of Paradise Hotel, Goroka (premier room, accommodation only). NB Dinner and breakfast at this hotel are not included in the tour package (ie these meals are pay-as-you-go or PAYG – the hotel accepts major credit cards, travellers cheques and local currency). The hotel has two eateries - a bistro/pizzeria with daily specials and a formal restaurant with a la carte dining on weekdays and a full buffet on weekends. There is a good Chinese restaurant across the street. Groceries for self-catering can be purchased from the small supermarket opposite the hotel which closes at 18:30.
Kemase village A warm welcome at Kemase village Kemase remaining bones of the ancestors A demonstration of tribal fighting with spears and "bunara" (bow and arrow)	DAY 2: GOROKA (VILLAGE EXPERIENCE) AND DRIVE TO MADANG 07:00 Breakfast and check out of the hotel. 08:00 Today you will travel by road from Goroka to Madang, stopping en route for a highlands village experience. After heading south along the busy Highlands Highway for half an hour your vehicle will turn off the main road and follow a rural feeder road for another hour to Kemase village. Here, the local people farm the land to support themselves with food, and grow cash crops such as coffee and market vegetables to raise income to buy clothing and other needs, and pay school fees for their children. On arrival at the village you will be treated to a traditional welcome (have your camera ready!) and meet the village people. A small crowd of enthusiastic “guides” will show you around the village: their homes, the village school, village church and of course the all-important pig pens and vegetable gardens. Valuable tribal artifacts traded for bride price and paraded during sing-sings will be brought out for you to examine. You will be taken to the village gardens and shown how yams and other staple vegetables are cultivated. The spiritual connection between the village people and their gardens will be explained to you: there are many superstitions regarding the effect of people’s behaviour on the growth of the garden crops. Near the village is an interesting gorge populated by large boulders that the people believe have spiritual properties. It is forbidden to speak while walking among the boulders. In the gorge is a burial cave where the bones of ancestors are displayed. Children dressed in traditional costume as a sign of respect for the ancestors will guide you into the cave. The caves were also used as a hiding place during tribal fights in the past. A demonstration of tribal fighting with spears and “bunara” (bow and arrow) will be performed. At the end of the gorge is a feasting ground where the village people usually gather for feasts. Here your lunch has been prepared, meat and vegetables stuffed into bamboo nodes and roasted under hot stones, with fruit on the side. After lunch you will farewell the villagers and drive back to the main road, turning towards the Ramu Highway which will take you through to Madang. The drive is very scenic, passing through many roadside villages, mountain passes, wide valleys and the Yonki Dam hydro-electric complex. At one point you will notice the sudden rise in temperature as you pass through the inversion layer between the cool highlands and the tropical coastal lowlands. There will be comfort stops en route and opportunities to buy fruit and cooked foods from roadside stalls. From Kemase to Madang the drive takes about 5 hours and you will arrive in Madang early evening. Your driver and guide from Goroka will assist you to check in at your hotel and then farewell you. (They will overnight with relatives in Madang and return to Goroka tomorrow). Overnight Coastwatchers Hotel, Madang (premier room, accommodation only).
Madang harbour Handingcrafts market Balek sulfur cave	DAY 3: MADANG (TOWN AND HARBOUR SIGHTSEEING) An early stroll along the foreshore adjacent to the hotel is great way to start today. Just near the hotel is one of Madang’s landmarks, the Coastwatchers Lighthouse at Kalibobo Point. Also nearby are the Madang golf links with attractive gardens and lily ponds. Along the foreshore reserve you will come across rusting World War 2 artillery pieces and children swimming in the sea. 08:00 Our local Madang guide will meet up with you at the hotel reception. Today’s activity is a full day of sightseeing including a visit to the small islands in the harbour with an opportunity for some swimming and snorkelling – bring a change of clothes and plenty of sunscreen. In the morning you’ll tour Madang town, stopping at various points of interest including: - Town market (fresh produce and handicrafts) - Town centre flying fox colony - Bilbil Pottery Village - Balek Sulfur Cave - parks, gardens and war memorials (A picnic lunch is provided during the tour today.) In the afternoon your guide will take you exploring the myriad of islands in Madang Harbour by local-style “banana boat” - a large fibreglass canoe with outboard motor (life jackets are provided but the harbour waters are calm). Populated islands include Krangket Island and Siar Island but smaller islets are uninhabited. After visiting one of the villages on the islands you’ll be taken to a quiet island beach where you can take a swim, and snorkel on the reef. (Basic snorkelling equipment is provided but our guide may not be trained in lifesaving so you would enter the water at your own risk). There are no poisonous jellyfish, stingrays or other dangerous marine life in this location. 17:30 Return to Madang town in time to witness the nightly flying fox migration. Flying foxes are unique to Madang. Similar colonies are not found in other PNG towns. Overnight Coastwatchers Hotel, Madang (premier room, accommodation only).
Kids dressing and ready for tradtional dances Wild orchids Scattered Aircraft wrecks Meeting up with rainforest inhabitant Having a Local fresh coconut juice Cultural performance taking place Madang Coastwatchers Hotel	DAY 4: MADANG (NATURE AND CULTURE ECO-TOUR) 07:00 Today you will make an early start to a very full eco-tour out the North Coast Road. Accompanied by your local guide and a hamper of bottled water and fruit, your tour vehicle (four-wheel drive or 15-seater minibus) will first travel 30 minutes out of town along the main road before turning off to the Kau Wildlife Management Area. Kau WMA is an area of natural rainforest that has been undisturbed by development. In the 1960s many forest areas of Madang were heavily logged by foreign timber cutters but the Ditipa clan at Kau refused to sell out. Clan leader Kiatek resisted cash-for-logs and intense political pressure, and became a vocal anti-logging campaigner. To this day Kau remains pristine and although Kiatek is now deceased his sons support his legacy and operate the forest as a wildlife management area under government protection. The WMA features a huge variety of tropical flora and fauna including many species of rainforest birds, butterflies, exotic beetles and huge stick insects. Apart from every imaginable shade of green, the flora includes patches of bright red and orange gingers and many species of wild orchid. Bird species include some unusual species like the long tailed buzzard and the spot winged monarch, plus several different kinds of bird-of-paradise. At Kau you’ll be taken on a one hour nature walk through the rainforest by Kiatek’s sons and their family members. They will talk to you about the forest and its inhabitants, demonstrating traditional uses for various plants as food and medicine. You’ll stop at a number of bird-watching hotspots and hopefully identify several species. There is also a good scenic lookout at Kau from where you can see up and down the coastline. Moving on from Kau you’ll make a brief stop at Alexishafen, a catholic mission established in 1896 when Madang was the administrative centre of German New Guinea. Here there is a colonial cemetery with some fascinating headstones and a World War 2 airstrip that was operated by the Japanese. There are still a number of aircraft wrecks scattered around the strip, mainly parked Japanese planes that were destroyed by allied bombing. From Alexishafen, you’ll turn off the main road again to the Mudug cave and cascades. The Mudug cave is a natural wonder, created by a stream running through a subterranean tunnel that traverses the interior of the mountain and empties into a large natural water pool about 9 metres deep near Sein village. The pool acts as a natural reservoir and from here water feeds into a series of pretty cascades eventually forming into a stream that flows to the sea. The cave itself is believed to be about 1km in length but no locals have ever followed the cave right back to its origin due to superstitious beliefs. The cave is high enough to walk into and after exploring it depths as far as you dare (BYO flashlight) you can take a refreshing swim in the flow pool. Swallows and bats inhabit the cave, and there is plenty of rainforest wildlife in the immediate area, similar to Kau. From Mudug you’ll continue driving another 30 minutes out the scenic North Coast Road to Udisis, a coastal village which has a number of interesting ecotourism attractions. On arrival, lunch is ready for you at the village guest house. There will be plenty of fish, fruit and vegetables cooked in local style, and freshly opened coconut juice to drink. After lunch the rest of the afternoon is spent at Udisis before returning to Madang. The people at Udisis village have made a conscious decision to make their village tourist-friendly to enable visitors to experience the natural and cultural attractions of their place during a short day trip. While you are seated for lunch the Wadug Theatre Group will perform for you. This group consists of village youth who have researched the very old traditions of their area and produced a dance and drama routine that showcases the old culture. Their costumes are 100% traditional with not a skerrick of raffia or cloth, and apart from custom dancing they also role-play traditional activities such as courtship behaviour, bride price payment and wedding ceremony, and the initiation of boys into manhood. You’ll learn about the tribal traditions and also have a lot of laughs as the youth portray the funny side of their ancestors’ ways. After the cultural performance you’ll be taken on a walking tour of the village, and if time allows you can also take an optional rainforest walk to the Yaimat Cave (similar to Mudug cave) and the Berun Bridge, a natural limestone formation like a bridge. Late afternoon bird watching is also very good here. If you skip the rainforest walk you can opt to depart from Udidis a little earlier and make a stop for a swim or snorkel in the sea at the Hole In The Wall on the way back to Madang. The Hole In The Wall is a large natural tidal pool adjacent to a fringing reef. If you duck-dive down the side of the tidal pool you will come to a big hole that connects the tidal pool to the open sea. You can swim through the hole and surface outside the tidal pool. 18:00 Return to Madang town (1 hour drive). Overnight Coastwatchers Hotel, Madang (twin premier room, accommodation only). NB Late start, slow progress or wet weather may require one or more of today’s tour stops to be skipped. Your guide will keep you informed.
Wemak Town Angoram Lodge	DAY 5: DEPART MADANG After breakfast, check out of your hotel and the hotel shuttle bus will transfer you to the Madang airport. Our local guide will be there to assist you with check-in for your morning flight to Wewak. The exact time will depend on the day of the week. Air Niugini flight PX928 Madang to Wewak. On arrival at Wewak airport you will be met by our local guide and taken to the Windjammer Beach Hotel to have lunch (pay as you go). After lunch your guide will drive you from Wewak to Angoram, a small river town on the Lower Sepik. The drive takes about 3 hours and features interesting scenery as the vehicle climbs via Passam through the Prince Alexander Range’s tropical rainforest and then down on to the Sepik floods plains. The dominant vegetation on the plains is grassland interspersed with light scrub – regular flooding prevents the development of old-growth forest here. The road descends in altitude down to the river basin. On arrival at Angoram you will check in at Angoram Lodge, and in the cool of the late afternoon stroll with your guide through the little Angoram township to the market where locals gather to trade, eat and pass the time. Overnight Angoram Lodge (twin share budget motel room, includes meals)
Chimondo Cultural House Kambot storyboard	DAY 6: SEPIK RIVER - DAY TRIP TO KAMBOT VILLAGE Departing in the cool of the early morning you will journey by dugout motor canoe journey up the main Sepik River a short distance before turning off to the left up the Keram River, a major tributary of the Sepik. Half an hour upstream, the first village along the Keram River is Chimondo, which has a large culture house with carved posts and ceiling decorated with painted traditional designs. Your canoe will make a brief stop here before continuing upstream another half hour to Kambot. At Kambot the village people will be prepared with artefact displays and demonstrations of their traditional lifestyle. A unique artefact called the storyboard is produced in this village. A village cultural group will perform a sing-sing for you and a traditional-style lunch featuring dried fish, sweet potato and roasted sago pudding is provided. Late afternoon, motor downstream back to Angoram. Overnight Angoram Lodge (twin share budget motel room, includes meals)
Road transfer to Wewak	DAY 7: SEPIK RIVER / WEWAK / FLY OUT Departing Angoram at 3am or later you will transfer by road to Wewak. A packed breakfast with tea flask is provided to eat on the road en route to Wewak. Your driver/guide will assist you to check in for Air Niugini flight PX927 from Wewak to Madang departing 08:15 or later, with onward connection to Port Moresby. TOUR ENDS.